In August 2016, the Drug Enforcement Administration announced that it would ban kratom, calling it an “imminent hazard to public safety,” and classify it as a Schedule 1 drug, putting it in the same category as heroin, LSD, cannabis, and ecstasy. The DEA decided to stall the ban until December however and hear public concerns regarding the decision being made based on insufficient evidence.

What Is Kratom?

Kratom is an herb that’s native to Southeast Asia, where it has been used to relieve pain for centuries. In small dosages, it can act as a stimulant, but in higher dosages, it can have sedative effects that resemble the effects of opiates. (2)

Workers in some regions of Southeast Asia use the fresh or dried leaves of Kratom and chew them or make tea to improve their productivity and overcome fatigue. Some countries also use it to treat medical conditions such as morphine and opium addiction. The leaves can also be turned into capsules, tablets, and liquids. (1)

How It Works

Kratom targets the same part of the brain that opiates do. A study (4) showed that kratom doesn’t have common side effects that are associated with opiates. The lead researcher of this study, Susruta Majumdar, believes that kratom should be further studied as some of its components might have medicinal properties and might be less addictive than current treatments, and other researchers share the same belief. However, banning kratom would make it impossible for researchers to study it in more depth.

Is It Safe?

Kratom has been shown (2) to cause dependency and people who stop taking it exhibit common physical and psychological symptoms of withdrawal.

Unfortunately, research on kratom is in its early stages, so it cannot be recommended for full treatment. (3) Missing information, especially when it comes to psychoactive substances, can endanger the health of people and can even be fatal.

Despite the insufficient evidence on its safety, research predicts that the use of kratom will increase in the next 10 years in Western countries. (2)

Kratom is still legal and not regulated by the FDA apart from 6 states: Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Vermont, Wisconsin, and Indiana, and is now part of the ‘New Psychoactive Substances’ drug class.

Although it’s proactive to ban substances that seem to be harmful and deadly to the public, the evidence on the danger of kratom is not enough to warrant such an action. Abuse of these substances is not a strong argument as not everyone abuses psychoactive substances.

Is Kratom The New Cannabis?

Kratom is not the first herb that the DEA has targeted. The U.S. started restricting cannabis and labeling it as a poison over a century ago and was successfully regulating it by the 1930s. The battle to legalize this medicinal herb started in the 70s when Oregon decided to decriminalize it, and has been going strong ever since.

Like it did with cannabis, the DEA rushed to illegalize an herb without sufficient evidence and went from no regulation to a complete ban. The DEA needs to hear the public’s concerns and let researchers present more evidence before taking drastic measures.

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